Saturday, December 25, 2010

The last few days I've shared some of my personal favorite Christmas traditions from growing up. I have to be honest with you, while they are really fun to look back on now, and we were "repurposing" long before it was the "hip" thing to do...most of our traditions were a result of necessity. We didn't usually have extra money for fancy wrapping paper or more gifts. By sending us on a scavenger hunt, the gift unwrapping experience took longer, making it seem like we got more than we actually did. I remember at the time, wishing for more gifts, wishing that we could afford new wrapping paper. Now I think, how would my memories of our traditions differ.

Would those be traditions?

And without those traditions, I wouldn't be able to make a brown paper bag look GOOD on a box! Enjoy today with whatever traditions you will share with your family. And remember, the best gift was presented to us, out of necessity, in a repurposed manger.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Repurposing: The triangular shaped hospital freebie formula sample box wasn't the only oddly shaped package under our tree. We've been known to use the oatmeal canister, the cylindrical tube inside the paper towel or toilet paper. And like the John Deere bag, we repurposed lots of other paper: newspaper, pages of magazines, possibly even homework, before it was the alltherage.

Sleep: It never failed, because of our anal-rententive unwrapping, my dad would fall asleep numerous times during the process.

Tape: One year, we ran out of tape by the time my brother got around to wrapping his gifts. And you don't just run and get more, when Wal-Mart is twenty minutes away. He improvised. He used black electrical tape. And wrapped that particular gift in a paper John Deere bag, strategically cut and taped with the JD logo centered on the front of the package.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Duped: The year my sister had a "present" wrapped for her show choir performance. While filled with textbooks for the performance, it was unwrapped, and rewrapped with a gift for my brother. For once, he had NO IDEA!

Scavenge: Because my brother and I were such good sleuths…my mom would send us on EXTRAVAGANT scavenger hunts. We're talking across town people. Last year I used the same idea for my mother-in-laws gift (a KitchenAid mixer)...it was HILARIOUS! That's a story for another time!

Have you ever sent someone on a scavenger hunt for a gift? If so, what was it like?

Anal Retentiveness: In our quest to not spend money we didn't have, we were pretty anal-rententive/uptight about not tearing wrapping paper. Typically we were each handed a steak-knife before opening gifts, to avoid any unnecessary ripping/tearing. (In recent years, I've definitely gotten my fair share of grief for this one.)

Paper: Because of the aforementioned aversion to tearing, there was wrapping paper older than me. And, like the aforementioned triangular shaped hospital freebie formula sample box, the same rolling commentary about what all had been wrapped in that paper ensued.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Disguising: The year my mom wrapped our presents in their "own" paper. My brother, sister, and I each had a "specific" paper all our gifts were wrapped in. She was hoping, in vain, that we wouldn't figure out what we were getting.

"The box": The triangular shaped hospital freebie formula sample box, that was kept purely for it's ability to disguise Christmas gifts. And every year there was a rolling commentary about who had a present in that box the previous years, and what the present was.

If you don't want to read a post about anything related to "feminine needs" - STOP READING NOW!

This week I heard about a marketing firm that was looking for women to participate in a focus group. 2 hours on a Thursday night and $75 for your time!

Where do I sign up?

I called to get more information, and sure enough it was legit!

Focus Group Criteria:

first time mom

baby younger than 6 months

preferably started your cycle again

Well, for those of you breastfeeding moms, you know that last bulletpoint is just one of the advantages of breastfeeding, as it can delay your cycle for up to a year (SWEET!). But, they really needed women, so they let me participate.

The focus group was particularly related to your habits buying feminine products. (Like I said guys, you might not want to read this!) Interesting I thought to myself, besides post-partum needs, I haven't been down that aisle in YEARS. LITERALLY. (I'm not joking!).

I asked for a little advice from my marketing savy husband. How can I be a helpful member of the focus group if I don't necessarily fit the "average consumer" in that area. His advice. "Don't get on your soapbox and try to convert them all. Rather explain the reasons why you use what you do. Economical. Environmental. Health. etc."

There were six women participants. Our first task was to introduce ourselves, answer a few demographic questions including, "How often pre-pregnancy did you purchase feminine products?" Everyone else answered "1-3 months". I answered, "The last time I purchased feminine products was in 2007." (minus 1 replacement purchase as a result of a fire...that's a story for a different time)

A few eyebrows went up.

Please list on the notepad in front of you, what products you most frequently purchase, pre and post pregnancy.

The evening continued, "We're going to vote on this list of 'features' of a variety of feminine products. Please vote for the three that are MOST IMPORTANT to you when deciding on a purchase. Lynette, I'm going to ask you not to participate."

Overall, it was definitely an interesting experience. I couldn't figure out if they were performing this research for a particular brand or a major retailer. Either way I left thinking the following things:

I'm not your average consumer.

I'm REALLY THANKFUL I'm not a regular visitor to "that aisle"

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my DIVA cup. LOVE. Because it's economical, environmentally friendly, free of NASTY chemicals and WEIRD scents, is amazing for an active lifestyle, and gives me an emotional "freeness" every month (other divas know what I mean)

As Matt and I prepare for Christmas this year, we have spent less time at the mall (and by that I mean ZERO time at the mall wondering what we were going to get people)...and more time talking about our family values and the things about our childhoods that we remember with so much joy.

Over the next few days I'm going to be posting some of my favorite memories and traditions from my childhood.

The Tree: Waiting until Christmas Eve to scour the available trees (that were almost always free), for the skinniest/scraggliest tree we could take home and give new life!

Sleuthing: The year my brother asked for a gun. After calling Wal-Mart to see how much that particular gun cost, with tax, we scoured the "log" in my mom's checkbook to see if she had written a check for that amount. There were also numerous times that gifts were unwrapped and rewrapped, for curiosity's sake.

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Bun Off Run Off (BORO) was a competition between the 2 departments housed in the Soderquist Business Center: the Business Department (Team - Business Buns) and The Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics (Team - Leadership Loaves).

Thursday, December 9, 2010

I was keeping track of my distance until the Siloam Springs Swim Club came in, and the 15 year old next to me probably swam in 5 minutes what it took me 20 minutes to swim. Definitely a boost to my confidence. Grr.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Matt bought me these flowers one month ago - from the Sam's Club fresh floral department. Can you believe how great they still look? Let alone that they are still alive and hanging on after a whole month!